The Development of a Common Foreign, Security and Defence Policy for the enlarged European Union and the Draft Constitutional Treaty

Javier Solana

On 1 May ten new Member States joined the European Union. This was a historic event. By means of the single biggest enlargement, 25 sovereign States came together in the Union through a process of peaceful integration, demonstrating once more the essential raison d’être of the European Union: the citizens of Europe living together in peace and prosperity. There are 450 million citizens in the enlarged Union, a population twice the size of that of the United States. The economic strength of the European Union represents a quarter of the world’s gross national product. We are a major economic and trading partner and we give by far the most development assistance. Our size and economic clout give us – in line with the Security Strategy which the Heads of State and Government agreed last December – worldwide responsibility, as a strategic, global player.
Along with enlargement, the successful conclusion of the Constitutional Treaty will be another important turning point for the European Union. There are good prospects for a final adoption by the Heads of State and Government in June this year. But ratification is a lengthy process and so the EU of 25 Member States will have to continue working on the basis of the existing Treaties for the foreseeable future. On the practical, functional side, the Treaty of Nice already contains much to enable us to cope with the challenges of enlargement, ensure that the Union bodies operate effectively even in the enlarged Union, and streamline the decision-making process.
Furthermore, in the last few years the Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) has displayed a dynamism virtually unique, that has made it the driving force of integration today. Opinion polls show that the CFSP is the integration project that sits most easily with citizens, and is even something which they actively desire. There also seems to be the necessary political will on the part of the politicians responsible. They have realised that Europe can play a role only if it is united. Only by means of a European approach, and only in cooperation with our major partners, particularly the USA, can the security of Europe’s citizens be ensured.

Substantial progress in the CFSP and the ESDP

In the past few years we have made considerable progress. Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam in the autumn of 1999, the institutional bases and bodies required for an effective CFSP have been put in place. At the same time, extensive action has been taken to develop credible military and civil capabilities, the prerequisite for successful international crisis management on the part of the European Union. The agreement on EU-NATO permanent arrangements allows us to call on NATO assets and capabilities, thereby increasing the Union’s operational capabilities and at the same time avoiding unnecessary duplication in the military sphere.
The European Security Strategy approved by the European Council saw 25 European States establish a remarkable consensus on basic European security issues. The Security Strategy will in future be an important frame of reference both for long-term European strategies and for current political problems. It will also be a basis for discussion and consultation with our major partners on central strategic issues.
As regards practical crisis management, 2003 was a milestone. In four operations in all, Europeans proved that they are serious about developing their Common Foreign and Security Policy and Defence Policy (policing operations in Bosnia and Macedonia, military operations in Macedonia and the Congo). In the Balkans the EU became the most important player, and as a member of the »Quartet« it is actively engaged in seeking solutions to the Middle East conflict. It is engaged in Afghanistan, the Middle East, the South Caucasus and the African Great Lakes Region. With its new Neighbourhood Policy, the EU is stepping up its action in the areas immediately to its south and east, to help increase the security of the EU through stabilisation of those regions. Here Union cooperation with other international organisations, and in particular the United Nations, is vital, as well as being proof of the fact that the dangers and threats we face today can be successfully countered only through »effective multilateralism« (one of the key points of our Security Strategy).

Strengthening the Common Foreign and Security Policy

With the adoption of the Constitutional Treaty, new and important decisions will be taken which will give the Common Foreign and Security and Defence Policies further impetus. When the Intergovernmental Conference was suspended last December, these provisions had ceased to be contentious, demonstrating the political will of all the Member States to respond to the challenge of further integration.

In the foreign policy sphere, the creation of the Union’s Minister for Foreign Affairs (Article 39 of the Constitutional Treaty) is of exceptional importance. In future that post will combine the functions of the High Representative, the President of the EU Council from the six-monthly rotating Presidency, and the members of the European Commission responsible for foreign relations and international development. It will give the Common Foreign and Security Policy a higher profile, more continuity, more coherence, and ultimately greater effectiveness.

The logical consequence of the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs is the creation of a European External Action Service, to include staff from the Commission, the Council Secretariat and the Member States, as provided for in the constitutional treaty. With the corresponding conversion of the European Commission’s existing delegation offices into EU embassies, the representation of European interests in third countries will also become far more effective.

More common action in a spirit of solidarity is also necessary in the fight against terrorism. Article 42 of the constitutional treaty provides in this respect for a solidarity clause. In this clause Member States undertake to mobilise all the instruments at their disposal, including military resources, to prevent terrorist threats in the territory of the Member States, to protect democratic institutions and the civilian population from any terrorist attack and, in the event of such an attack, to assist a Member State in its territory at the request of its political authorities. After the terrorist attacks in Madrid, the European Council on 25 and 26 March 2004 brought this solidarity clause into force with a corresponding Declaration on Terrorism, independently of the constitutional treaty.

From the ESDP to the CSDP

The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is an integral part of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Under Article 40 of the constitutional treaty, it provides the Union with operational capacity drawing on assets civil and military. The Union may use such assets on missions outside the Union for peacekeeping, conflict prevention and strengthening international security in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter. The CSDP also includes the progressive framing of a common Union defence policy, leading to a common defence when the European Council so decides. The constitutional treaty contains a series of provisions for implementing the CSDP. Two of these provisions will be of outstanding importance in view of their practical impact: the establishment of an Agency in the field of defence capabilities development, research, acquisition and armaments (referred as »the European Defence Agency«) and the possibility for Member States to establish permanent structured cooperation within the Union framework to develop military capabilities.

The European Defence Agency

The establishment of the European Defence Agency has already been initiated by an advance decision of the European Council. It is thus also independent of the constitutional treaty. This fact is further evidence that there is a political will to achieve real improvements in the field of European defence by means of joint action. In view of the budgetary constraints in virtually all the Member States of the Union, improving cooperation on armaments is particularly important if military deficits are to be progressively eliminated. The Agency Establishment Team took up its duties a few months ago, and the Agency itself will be starting work this year. Its main task will be inter alia to encourage armaments cooperation between Member States in general, but also in the case of individual projects, to strengthen the European armament industry, make it more competitive and make progress with research cooperation.

Permanent structured cooperation

The justification for permanent structured cooperation between some Member States in the EU framework was subject to much debate in the European Convention and during the ensuing Intergovernmental Conference. Serious concerns were directed especially against its seemingly exclusive character and incompatibility with the obligations of certain Member States under the North Atlantic Treaty. The development of the ESDP followed an inclusive, integrating and cooperative approach from the start. This basic principle remains especially valid for the CSDP as well.

In accordance with our common Security Strategy, we must transform our forces into more flexible, mobile forces and enable them to face the new situation. For this purpose, more resources for defence and more effective use of resources are necessary. We know how realistic it is to increase resources against the background of existing budgetary constraints. An essential key to improving capability will therefore involve overcoming fragmentation and reducing unnecessary duplication. By systematically using pooled and shared assets, as recommended in our Security Strategy, duplication and overheads can be reduced and, in the medium term, capabilities increased. This is basically the key concern of permanent structural cooperation.

Concentrating resources and capabilities, sharing tasks and specialisation, imply trust between all those concerned. The developing Common Foreign and Security Policy, with growing consensus in our political objectives in relation to potential crisis areas and consensus in the way in which we wish to achieve our objectives and use our instruments, forms the crucial political framework.

On the basis of the criteria laid down in the constitutional treaty participation is in principle open to all Member States. It is not so much individual Member States’ actual current military capabilities that provide the benchmark as their political will, on the Treaty’s entry into force, to gradually increase their contributions of really usable armed forces by moving towards integration. For example in the form of national and multinational units, through participation in major European arms projects, active engagement in the European Defence Agency and through participation in the development of »Battle Groups«, deployable at short notice in a crisis area and capable of carrying out their mission there independently over a given period.

Here again, the proposal put forward early in the year by the United Kingdom, France and Germany for the development of »Battle Groups« went some way towards meeting an essential prerequisite for participation in permanent structured cooperation – independently of the constitutional treaty. The fundamental concept of the »Battle Group« will have been hammered out by the end of the Irish Presidency. Broad acceptance of and support for this concept presupposes a correspondingly large commitment on the part of the Member States.

The development of units of European forces and also European headquarters was frequently regarded in the past by many as incompatible with NATO. The same applied a few years ago to the creation of the European Corps, which has since developed into a flexible, rapidly deployable European detachment force, which while yet to be deployed on a purely European level, has twice seen action within the framework of NATO. It is not just speculation to state that in a similar way European capabilities developed within the framework of permanent structured cooperation will also contribute to improving capabilities in the framework of the Atlantic Alliance.

The decisions reached in December of last year on the creation of a permanent EU-cell in NATO’s SHAPE headquarters and the establishment of a NATO liaison group within EU Military Staff will bring further improvements in the area of crisis management, where cooperation with NATO is already good. With the simultaneous decision to create a civilian/military planning cell and an operation centre from which to conduct civilian-military operations we are treading new ground which should ensure that all the means the Union has at its disposal can be used more effectively in future. Experience with the crises of the past few years have shown that they cannot be solved through military means alone, and that long-term crisis management requires the effective interaction of all instruments.

Continuous process of integration

With the new measures provided for in the constitutional treaty the process of integration on CFSP and CSDP issues will continue without interruption, especially since substantial parts of these provisions had already been introduced independently of the Constitutional Treaty through advance European Council decisions. Certainly readiness to address problems at European level could be further developed. We should not forget, however, that Foreign and Security Policy is a core aspect of national sovereignty which many politicians are still reluctant to transfer to Europe. A Common Foreign and Security Policy is however a necessity if Europe is to succeed in meeting challenges and in becoming a global player.

Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the CFSP.

home